The Age of Excess: Absolutely Fabulous Returns With Three New Episodes

If you’re not familiar with Absolutely Fabulous’s Eddy and Patsy (the main characters of the cult British comedy that first premiered in 1992 and, after nearly a seven-year absence, is now back for three specials on BBC America) here is a quick introduction: Eddy is Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders), a hopelessly out-of-touch middle-aged PR woman obsessed with clinging to what’s left of her fading youth—“I grieve for the menopause,” she tells her forever-mortified daughter, Saffy (Julia Sawalha), in a moment of typical over-sharing. Self-absorbed to the level of psychosis, when Eddy’s not battling the ravages of time (and gravity) with whatever health or fashion fads she can get her hands on, she tries desperately to air-kiss her way into West London’s exclusive inner circles. In constant tow is her vodka-swilling best friend, Patsy Stone—a model turned fashion-magazine editor and relic of Swinging London (played to a T by real-life 1960s pin-up Joanna Lumley). Over the course of the show’s twelve-year run, the pair’s toe-curling escapades through Knightsbridge were the perfect send-up of gaudy, mid-90s excess, and even spawned a faux-luvvie vernacular—just replace every other word with either “suh-weetie” or “dah-ling”, and you’ve basically got it. But why did Saunders, who originally cocreated the series with longtime comedy partner Dawn French, decide now was the time to bring Ab Fab back?

From the first episode (which airs this weekend) it seems as though very little has changed in the Holland Park townhouse Eddy calls home: Patsy is still lying about her age (“I’m 39!” she barks at Saffy, who, for reasons that are never fully explained, has spent the last two years in prison) and Eddy, who is herself about to turn 60, still operates under the absurd fantasy she can get away with acting like a teenager (whenever she drives into a bad neighborhood she blares dubstep out of the windows of her chauffer-driven car). Not only that, in the wake of this generation’s inexorable reality shows (the kinds that begin with words “The Real Housewives of …”) Eddy and Patsy’s shameless desperation to fit in amongst their peers seems almost quaint. The first episode’s biggest laugh, for instance, comes when Eddy hands Patsy a new wallet and exclaims, “It’s Stella McCartney!”

“Hi Stella,” Patsy says, holding it to her ear. The moment is cute, if not a little cheesy.

The truth is, as much as we’ve missed Eddy’s garish outfits (which in these new episodes take the form of a quadruple denim skirt, shirt, vest and hat ensemble) and Patsy’s towering blonde beehive, there is little fresh material here to sink your teeth into. Old jokes about aromatherapy and Britpop have just been replaced with lazy gags about the royal wedding and Twitter, and the whole thing feels more like an encore (albeit a forgivable one, considering the fact it’s only limited to three episodes) than a serious stab at restarting the series.

Still, we can at least continue to enjoy Eddy and Patsy’s cold one liners: “Look darling,” Eddy says to Saffy, soon after her return home from jail, “there is a new disease called the Kardashians.”The first of three new Absolutely Fabulous episodes airs on January 8, at 10 p.m. (9 p.m. central) on BBC America.